5 Cricketers who were demoted in BCCI's latest central contract

2. Cheteshwar Pujara

This was pretty much on the cards. Cheteshwar Pujara has hardly made an impact as India’s number three Test batter for a long time. While he did score a vital fifty surviving a bouncer barrage from the Australian pacers at the historic Gabba Test in January last year, Pujara could not make it matter during the ICC World Test Championship final in New Zealand and the subsequent England Test series.

After a poor outing in the three-match Test series against South Africa where he finished with 124 runs at an average of 20.66 including a solitary half-century, the selectors thought they had enough and excluded him from the two-match home series against Sri Lanka starting March 4. Due to that, the Saurashtra cricketer who had a Grade A contract in 2021 now finds himself in the B category.

The Test specialist would now be making amends in the Ranji Trophy to find his place in the Indian squad. Nonetheless, Pujara has only managed one half-century in three innings for the defending champions Saurashtra.